Firehouse five are put to the test with 'extreme'
bratwurst for TV show

Wednesday, April 5, 2000

By IRIS BAILIN BROUDY
THE PLAIN DEALER

Imagine you have just chomped on a big, juicy bratwurst studded with
chocolate chips and coconut. What should your response be?

"I like chocolate, but not in a brat."

"It’s different."

"Looks like someone put a Mounds bar inside a hot dog."

All of the above are valid. But if you were a Brooklyn paramedic taping a
segment of "Extreme Cuisine," the last choice would make Andrew Goldberg very,
very happy.

Goldberg is a producer-director for cable TV Food Network program that
celebrates the offbeat of the culinary world. He came to Ohio last week from New
York to tape five segments for the show. They included a cheese carver and a
"four-acre safari supermarket" in Cincinnati; Dick’s Last Resort, a restaurant
in Cleveland’s Flats; and a Lyndhurst house with lavish Easter-egg decorations.

Friday afternoon found Goldberg at the Sausage Shoppe at 4501 Memphis Ave. in
Cleveland’s old Brooklyn, where proprietors Carol and Norm Heinle challenged
local firefighters to identify the ingredients in a dozen designer bratwursts.

R&D in short time
Extreme Cuisine’s researcher discovered the Sausage Shoppe, which last year
took second place in the Innovative Pork category at the national competition of
the American Association of Meat Processors. Once accepted for the show, the
Heinles had less than a month to develop the new flavors.

Some of the Heinles’ past bratwurst experiments sound like a list from
Baskin-Robbins: mint, watermelon, pumpkin, cranberry. On the savory side,
they’ve tried flavors like horseradish, jalapeno and sauerkraut, and have
produced boozy versions with beer, rum, Jack Daniel’s whiskey and peach
schnapps.

For "Extreme Cuisine" they solicited suggestions from customers, then
brainstormed at their kitchen table. Asparagus, pesto, and sun-dried tomato
versions didn’t survive the first cut. Canned pie cherries with crushed red
pepper did. The final list also included bacon-cheddar, sweet ’n’sour,
mushroom-onion and honey-garlic.

"Then we discussed which would be better smoked, which would be better
fresh," said Carol Heinle. "And whether to leave some spices out of the
traditional meat base so the other flavors would come through."

She also came up with the idea of having Brooklyn firefighters, many of whom
are regular customers, compete in a taste-off. Could these men in blue recognize
the "cherry bomb" brat? Distinguish the pizza from the pepperoni?

On Friday afternoon, accuracy was not Goldberg’s priority. He was more into
eliciting colorful commentary. So when the tasters’ early comments ran to the
ho-hum ("It’s sweet." "It’s juicy." "It’s got a little kick to it."), Goldberg
angled for wisecracks.

Characterization
"You gotta have more character," said Goldberg, when paramedic Chris Hrach
described Mystery Brat No. 3 as "It’s good ... spicy."

"I don’t have much character," retorted Hrach, who played straight man
through the tasting, needled by his colleagues Herb Brunkholz, Matthew Churlik,
Eddy Coyne and Brady Cribbs. The five sat at picnic tables in the shop’s parking
lot as passing motorists gaped from Memphis Ave.

But goaded relentlessly by Goldberg, the firefighters gradually lightened up.
Witness the following exchange about the pina colada bratwurst:

Churlik: "It’s got, like, pineapple juice oozing out."

Goldberg: "How does it make you feel?"

Brunkholz: "Warm and tingly inside."

Cribbs (aside): "I’m wondering how a sausage is supposed to make you feel."

Hrach: "It’s got a weird taste and it’s soft inside."

Goldberg: "OK. OK. That’s what I wanna hear."

Choice of words
Later, as the paramedics discussed another entry, Goldberg asked, "Do you find
it alienating or pristine?"

"I use a little smaller words," replied Hrach. "Okay, let’s try this," said
Goldberg. "If this brat was a woman, who would it be?"

"If this is a woman, it’s like no woman I’ve ever known," cracked Cribbs.

"It’s a car. It’s an animal. What does it remind you of?" Goldberg tried
again. "What does it make you think of? What place?"

"It reminds me of a brat that’s been under water too long," Churlik offered.

Seven sausages later, as the paramedics awaited the results, they heard a
siren approaching. In unison, all swung around to face Memphis Ave., and as
their buddies from the Brooklyn Fire Department sped by, the five pelted the
fire engine with brats.

Bailin Broudy is a free-lance writer in Cleveland Heights.

Extreme Cuisine airs on the Food Network at 9 p.m. and midnight Tuesdays,
at 9:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. Saturdays and at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Check your
cable provider for exact listings. Dates for the Sausage Shoppe segment are
not yet available.

Contact the Sausage Shoppe at (216) 351-5213 or on the Internet at:
http:// www.sausageshoppe.com